Panzano market

Rome

She was also thrilled for the Pantheon. We all were happy it was a little bit cooler inside.

The Trevi Fountain was under construction. At least the selfie stick still worked. 

We also found the Spanish steps and refresh ourselves in the fountain at the bottom of it. The kids got yelled at by the police for sticking their feet in. 

Coliseum

Kenzie was so excited to see the Roman Coliseum.  Even though it was 100° out, we knew we had to do it. We got the train, left mom at the café, and the five of us found a tour guide that allowed to skip the very long line. 

Averill girls in Tuscany

Italy - planes trains & autos

When my dad found out that we were going to Italy, he told me, “take your mother.” But neither she nor I could imagine him home alone for 2-1/2 weeks while we all skirted around Europe. He had a hard time being alone for an hour. But, when  he died in May, we knew that mom needed to go. We had a bit of a hard time getting her on the same flight, but, as luck turned out, there was a last-minute cancellation and we were able to all be together. She's been quite the trooper as we had only a bit of this well planned. We tend to make rough agendas and then fill in the details as we go--sometimes that's good and sometimes it bites us in the ...

We flew into Rome, where the daily temperature reaches 100. We spent three nights there, then caught the train to Florence, rented a car, and met up with our good friends Rick and Thomas, and then eventually to a villa on the outskirts of a Chianti town called Panzano, where we reunited with the Urbans. They had driven 17 hours from their home in Germany.

This has literally been an adventure of planes, trains and automobiles…all in the scorching heat. The last day in Rome, for example, no cabs were available, so we drug our luggage .6 mile across town, to find the underground Metro, ride a few stops to the main train station in Rome, hop on the high speed train to Florence, find Rick and Thomas, get on a bus to the car rental place, and then drive to Tuscany. Oh and to make it more interesting, the place Thomas rented their car from closed early, so they were without a car and there was a very long line at every other counter. Somehow we talked the lady at our car rental place into finding one for him, even though she had said twice that they had none.

Our place in Tuscany is incredible. We have a pool, and that's about all we need. A couple more days here then we split from the Urbans and head to Spain.

Time to Dress up and Dance!

My beautiful ladies. 

 Getting their grove on:

And learn a few moves:

And take a few selfies:

And another:

We had a great night! We were at Whitney (Tomita) and Jake Blackstone's wedding reception. Mason was at a teammate's house because we thought he was going to have a game but also he needed rest for another early morning game. (8 o'clock AM). We missed you Mason!

"Camp was great!" said Kenzie

These two young ladies were Kenzie's counselors again at camp. They have known Kenzie for years now. They, again, had wonderful things to say about her; "She's so wonderful", "She was the heart of our cabin", "She has such a great heart and includes and excepts everyone" and "Everybody just loves and adores her" etc. Proud parent moment!

First Tournament

Of course, we had to have an early morning game due to the tournament being here in Issaquah. Which also means getting up early to get to the field 45 minutes early. Someone fell back asleep after getting ready. 

I had to miss the first game to go get Kenzie from Pilgrim Firs. Julie kept me updated through text and Video. 

It was well worth it in the end as they won the game 2-1. Mason scored both goals. Video/pictures inserted later. 

Camp out!

The boys somehow convinced Ed to camp out in his back yard next to the creek (I actually think it was Ed who convinced the boys). Either way, they had fun!!

At night: Ed snapped these two pictures before sleeping between them. 

Next morning: missing from the picture is Ed, who is holding the door open. 

This taken after clothes were changed and breakfast was had:

I think they are planning to have another one later on in the summer and include roasting marshmallows. 

Camp Week!

Kenzie has been gone all week long at chuch camp. She loves it there! We hope she had a great week. 

Bentley was sad to see her stay. 

Baseball pictures

How nice that the baseball coach is a professional photographer!

Road Trip!

We had ordered new chairs for the beach house and I decided the boys and I needed to take a road trip (Kenzie's at camp) and take them over to PT and also to escape the 90's heatwave here in Issaquah. Any excuse really to enjoy the serenity of it out there. 

I also needed to do some "yard work" while I was there. 

Before:

After:

We also went into town for some lunch at Nifty Fifty. Lunch outside, some ice cream and some water time = FUN!

Dunking brothers